Staff Reporter:

An application has been filed with a Dhaka court seeking the initiation of a criminal case against former Chief Adviser of the interim government Dr Muhammad Yunus and three others in connection with the recent measles outbreak and the death of a child.

The other accused named in the application are former Health Adviser Nur Jahan Begum, former Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Dr Md Abu Jafar, and former Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.

Sirajul Islam, the father of a child who died during the measles outbreak, filed the application before the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jeshita Islam. The court recorded the complainant’s statement and kept its order pending, according to the complainant’s lawyer, Taslima Jahan Popy.

The complaint stated that nine-month-old child Sauda Muskan was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with a fever and eventually died due to the failure to provide timely medical care.

The child was not administered the measles vaccine in a timely manner because of its unavailability, the petition said, claiming that the interim government, under Dr Muhammad Yunus, along with the others, failed to properly perform its obligations of arranging, supplying and administering the measles vaccine.

This caused hundreds of children to die in various parts of the country, while thousands were undergoing treatment, according to the complaint. This behaviour amounts to a breach of the state’s constitutional duty to safeguard public health and life. It also constitutes an abuse of power, negligence, and a failure to fulfil their legal duties, the complainant stated.